Careful
by Anabely
Summary: AU. Life happens exactly as Edward planned from the beginning. No NM, Eclipse, BD. ONE SHOT. Rated M to be on the safe side though technically nothing objectionable. PLEASE NOTE HORROR GENRE "Be careful what you set your heart upon—for it will surely be yours." —James Baldwin


OF COURSE, I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT THE THOUGHT THAT JAMES BALDWIN WOULD HAVE SPENT ABOUT 2 SECONDS BEING OUTRAGED BY THE EXISTENCE OF TWILIGHT BEFORE MOVING ON WITH HIS LIFE.

Careful

"Be careful what you set your heart upon—for it will surely be yours."

—James Baldwin

After breakfast was two hours of discussion time. Edward asked me how much I had read the day before and what I thought about it. We were reading a play right now called A Yard of Sun. I had thought it would be a good choice, and we could have done worse. It is set in Europe right after World War II ends. It is a love story and I do not like those anymore, but there were other things to focus on instead. I sympathized with many of the characters; they carried the weight of the world on their shoulders. That was not an observation for Edward, though. To him, I commented on how difficult their war experiences must have been.

"I don't normally think of what happened right after World War II except in perhaps England or Germany. I forget about the rest of Europe. Where were you when the War ended, darling?"

Changing the conversation to Edward's life would usually get me through at least 10 minutes.

He talked about spending time in Alaska and growing closer to the Denalis. Vampires could not afford to get recruited into the army and so hiding out was a good plan. They had stayed there until they all looked too young to have served. When so many people had been in one of the armed forces, lies were difficult to get away with. It wasn't until 1951, soon after Alice and Jasper joined them, that they left seclusion. That was the last time Carlisle had gone to medical school, opting to play younger than he normally did.

Only an hour left of discussion time. That had gone better than I expected.

I had prepared another question about the play. "Why the bulls, do you think, Edward? What does it have to do with the characters?"

Edward took several minutes to give me his opinion and then told me about the two times he had been to bull fights.

"Have you ever seen the bulls run?"

He never had. He thought, though, speaking of bulls, that while there were many objections to Hemingway, that we might risk The Sun Also Rises as our next book. It could not corrupt me too thoroughly so long as he was there to guide my thoughts.

Discussion time was the worst part of my day. I deeply regretted my teenage choice in literature because it had taken me years to deflect Edward into other sorts of books. The idea of Cathy and Heathcliff giving up the world for each other made me sick. I still thought of Emily Bronte as an excellent writer, though. She had demonstrated well how focus on one individual over everyone else could destroy not only your own life, but the lives of those around you. Jane Eyre also seemed a wise book. The only way for Jane and Mr. Rochester to be together as equals was for Mr. Rochester to lose a hand and his eyesight, and for Jane to become wealthy. I might have dreamed of being Cathy or Jane when it was all fiction, but the reality of their lives was worse than any Henry James novel.

Please don't even mention Henry James or Edith Wharton to me.

I could never share these thoughts with Edward.

And so I eventually persuaded him that I was tired of Victorian literature, and perhaps slightly more modern books, or older books, were better for our discussions. Dostoevsky had carried me through last year, and we had spent more than five years studying Middle English. Edward had not even censored The Canterbury Tales since it was from such a different time.

"Love, Alice and Jasper arrived home last night. They will only be here for two weeks. Esme is preparing a luncheon for you at the main house and then Alice will spend the afternoon with you while Jasper and I hunt. I will miss you, but hunting now means I can stay with you while you sleep tonight."

When we arrived at the main house, I felt Alice's arms around me before I even saw her.

"I've missed you so much, Bella! We had a wonderful time in Russia. There were tigers, bears, fox, seals and I even tried a marmot, even though they're really small. And the clothes! Jasper thought I was crazy, but we kept the pelts of everything we hunted and I have the most beautiful coat for you! Fur isn't murder if you're killing the animal anyway, at least that's what I think. I mean, if you're draining an animal, then fur is just waste! Try this blouse on. Do you like the fur trim? You can wear it shopping this afternoon."

I thanked Alice, and Esme for the salad she laid out for me, and went to Alice's room to change my clothes. I had stopped complaining about shopping 15 years ago. It was now my favorite activity.

The mall was not very full when we arrived. Alice headed to a pricey boutique first. She said the department stores were for filler clothing once you had chosen the most important items in a collection.

"Bella, there's so much I don't even recognize! When you've been gone for a whole year, you almost don't know where anything is, much less all those little details about how accessories are changing. "

I glanced at a saleswoman a few times out of the corner of my eye. She looked like she was around my age. I wondered if she liked working in a store. I hadn't enjoyed working at Newton's all that much when I was 18, but it had been alright. And you got to see everyone in Forks over a few months.

In the next boutique, Alice apologized to me.

"There's not really anything for you here, but the cutest dress for me is going to be gone by tomorrow, so we just had to come here today. Look around in case there's anything you like, but it's going to take me a few minutes in the dressing room. Alice bustled around the store and carried a stack of at least 20 items away to try on. She could probably do it in two or three minutes, but the store was small, so she would have to change at human pace.

"Now there's a clothes horse if ever I saw one. Does she get it from you?"

I turned, surprised at being addressed, but delighted that anyone had the nerve to call Alice a horse. I saw a woman of about 40, highlights in her hair, and very well dressed.

"My daughter's only 13, but yours looks like she's 15? Mine is crazy about clothes, but she isn't shopping in adult stores, yet, really. She sticks to Urban Outfitters and Forever 21, thanks goodness for my budget. But I expect she'll graduate to places like this soon. She's almost as tall as I am."

I didn't know how to reply. Here was my first conversation with a human beyond please and thank you for as long as I could remember. But if I went along with the idea that Alice was my daughter, how would I explain it to her (and later to Edward)? After all, Alice could probably hear every word.

"She gets it from her mother. I'm her stepmother, not her mom, so _she _helps _me_ with fashion. I wouldn't have a clue what I was doing otherwise."

"That's nice. It's good to have something to bond over. I have my own two with my husband, but I have an older stepson—we're both second marriages—and we have _nothing to say_ to each other. Any time I've tried to get involved in something he likes, he thinks I'm being hypocritical. There's nothing I can do to win."

"I've been lucky with Alice. She likes to dress me and I don't mind being dressed up. At first, I didn't like shopping so much, but I found getting out of the house was good for me. She also likes to do nails and hair."

"Girls are so much easier than boys, aren't they? But try telling that to my husband." She looked like she was going to speak again, but stopped as Alice walked up to us, giving me an amused look.

"Found something to do, Bella?"

"Found something to wear, Alice?"

Alice's wry look changed to excitement. "YES. I'll show you."

I turned to the mother I'd been speaking to in order to say goodbye.

"You know, a few of my friends meet to have coffee on Wednesdays at The Steamy Cup. You should stop by next week. We usually get there around 11."

I thanked her and said goodbye without making any promises. Even if Edward would let me, I couldn't sustain the lies I'd been telling in an ongoing relationship.

Alice and I spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of stores and then she took me to a trendy bistro for dinner. It was nice to get out. Edward only took me out to dinner on special occasions now. It was the sort of place I would never have been able to get a table at, but Alice got us in without a wait.

"Order desert, Bella. I won't tell Edward, don't worry."

I could only eat a few mouthfuls of the double chocolate cake. It was so sweet!

It was after 10 PM when we arrived home. Edward was waiting at the cottage and gently chided me.

"We won't have as much time together this evening as we should, my love. Go take your shower quickly."

When I stepped out of the shower, I put on my pyjamas and the fresh robe stitched with a B on the pocket. Edward had decided long ago that I should have a clean robe every day, so he had had 16 identical ones made, two per day with extras, to ensure that I never ran out of clean robes.

I dried my hair and stepped into the bedroom to sit at the vanity.

I waited for Edward.

"You look beautiful as always, love. Scoot forward just a little."

Edward sat behind me on the vanity bench and picked up the silver hairbrush from the vanity. The brush had a B matching the B on my robes. The brush and it's matching comb were hand designed by Edward for my twenty-first birthday. He brushed my hair, move the brush slowly, teasing out any possible knots.

"One hundred strokes. One hundred strokes in the morning and one hundred strokes in the evening. That's how my mother brushed her hair. And your hair is even more beautiful than hers," Edward repeated the mantra he said every night. He always began it on the tenth stroke.

He placed the brush down. And turned me around to face him.

He kissed me gently, his lips lingering on mine for a few briefs seconds.

"You are irresistible. Someday I will be carried away by you, love."

"Thank you, Edward."

"Did you have a nice time with Alice? I liked the blouse you wore when you returned home."

"Yes, Edward. Thank you."

"Alice told me while you were in the bath that she has chosen special birthday clothes for you to wear tomorrow. I had to promise not to look while you slept tonight. As if I would leave your arms for even one minute."

_I blinked at the reminder of my birthday. I had forgotten. I remembered a birthday long ago when I had begged for the only thing I wanted and had been granted it for a miraculous two weeks. I had tried to leave so many times before that birthday, ducking out at shopping malls and restaurants, but being found within minutes or at most hours. I had tried saving money, but Alice had seen where I had hidden it and confronted me about my stash._

_So a month before my 28__th__ birthday, a time when I was still young enough to start over, I had spontaneously spilled my guts to Rosalie, begging her to help me escape so that I could live a normal human life. She had put together a new identity and lots of money for me, and I asked for time alone with her as my present. "So that we can finally bond," I said. And she drove me five states away in a few hours and put me inside a hotel and told me to keep the curtains shut so Alice's visions could not locate me._

_I'd planned to summer in Alaska and winter in Florida. I never left the hotel room._

_Edward read Rose's thoughts and the Cullens brought me home 15 days after I left._

_We did spend that summer in Alaska, though._

I moved to the bed and stood back as Edward turned it down for me. I settled in, ensconced in his arms.

"Sweet dreams, love. I will find it difficult to resist your charms."

When I awoke, I showered and dressed in the clothes Alice left for me. Edward brushed my hair. He kissed me three times and then hugged me tightly.

"Love, you overwhelm me. I cannot bear to let you go."

We skipped discussion time, as we did on any day when the family had a special event. We went straight to the main house and Edward bundled me into Alice's room for a session of Bella Barbie.

"Sorry, Bella, I should have taken care of this yesterday, but I didn't notice until we were at the bistro. You have three gray hairs we need to color. This is going to be fun."

Edward whisked me downstairs to the party when Alice was finished. There were balloons and a cake and a table full of presents. A banner said, "Happy 43rd!" with starts on it. Rosalie and Emmett were there, though they had lived separately from the family for the last 15 years.

Once I had blown out the candles and opened the presents and eaten the cake, Carlisle cleared his throat.

"Bella, this is not only your birthday, but a special year in our family. You have been with us for a quarter century, a length of time even in the life of a vampire. We have a special gift for you in honor of our 25th anniversary together."

I opened the box he handed me. It was a Cullen Crest necklace in silver.

Edward put it around my neck.

"Thank you, Edward. Thank you everyone."


End file.
